WASHINGTON -- The House on Thursday approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill to finance most of the government through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. The late-night vote happened less than two hours ahead of a midnight deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.
The 219-206 vote cleared the way for a final showdown on the bill in the Senate, which is expected to consider the measure this weekend.
Because the deadline to renew government spending was midnight Thursday, the House and Senate approved a stopgap funding measure to extend the deadline for 48 hours so the Senate can act on the broader spending bill.
Arkansas' House delegation split on the spending bill. Reps. Tom Cotton and Rick Crawford voted against it, while Reps. Tim Griffin and Steve Womack voted in favor. All four are Republicans.
A relieved House Speaker John Boehner said after the vote, "thank you and Merry Christmas."
Efforts to pass the bill fell into disarray earlier Thursday as Republicans were short of votes and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged Democrats to force the removal of "offensive" banking and campaign-finance provisions.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and at least two Cabinet secretaries called lawmakers to urge them to support measure and head off a shutdown, people familiar with the phone calls said. Pelosi's stance had the rare effect of pitting her against the White House.
Ultimately, 57 Democrats supported the bill, including the party's second-ranking leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who doubles as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
On Thursday afternoon, House leaders delayed the vote, initially scheduled for about 2 p.m., as Boehner sought to round up Republican support.
Meanwhile, House Democrats held a private meeting with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, who "made a very strong pitch" for the bill, said Rep. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania.
Pelosi, in a message to fellow Democrats earlier Thursday, said Republicans' inability to pass the bill on their own "increases our leverage to get two offensive provisions of the bill removed: the bank bailout and big money for campaigns provision."
The campaign provision would permit a tenfold increase in donations that individuals can make to national political parties each year, to $324,000 from $32,400, according to a statement by Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. The group advocates for changes to campaign-finance laws.
The banking language, insisted upon by Republicans, would ease rules enacted to protect taxpayers against bank losses after souring derivatives trades helped cause the 2008 financial crisis. The dispute over the banking rule is a preview of Republican plans to roll back other business regulations when they take control of both chambers in 2015.
The banking provision would let JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and other lenders keep swaps trading in units with federal backstops.
"Citigroup is holding government funding hostage to ram through its government bailout provision. Join me in opposing the #CitigroupShutdown," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Thursday on Twitter.
Meanwhile, some Republicans opposed the measure because it puts off a confrontation over Obama's immigration policy until 2015.
"When you don't fight when you have the opportunity because you're going to find better ground, you lose the principle," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Thursday.
Obama supported the spending measure, though he opposed the banking and campaign-finance provisions, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Later, on MSNBC, Earnest had a direct message for Democrats in Congress: Take the deal now, because they won't get a better one in three months, when Republicans will have an expanded majority in the House and control of the Senate.
"This is the kind of compromise that the president's been seeking from Republicans," Earnest said Thursday afternoon. "I don't think there's going to be a government shutdown."
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Budget Director Shaun Donovan also were calling lawmakers Thursday to urge them to vote for the measure, said a Democratic official who sought anonymity.
"You have Pelosi and our usuals working together," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. "Then you have Reid and Obama and House Republicans working together. That's very strange. I couldn't have drawn out that battle plan for you."
The Office of Management and Budget, in a precautionary move, contacted federal agencies to prepare for a possible shutdown, said an agency official who sought anonymity. A budget fight in October 2013 over funding for Obama's health care law led to a 16-day partial government shutdown.
procedural fuss
Democrats showed their displeasure over the banking provision by voting earlier Thursday against a procedural measure to set rules for debate on the spending bill.
The procedural measure passed 214-212, with 16 Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. The four representatives from Arkansas, all Republicans, voted in favor of the procedural measure.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said he opposed the spending bill because it gives bankers priority over initiatives such as the Pell Grant college-aid program.
"How can you justify eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars from the Pell Grant program and then give the bankers on Wall Street an avenue in which to enrich themselves?" Gutierrez said.
A deal on the spending bill was announced Tuesday after Senate Democratic negotiators accepted the banking rule changes and Republican demands on other policy provisions. Republicans oppose making changes to the measure.
Though Democrats aren't pleased about the policy provisions, they said they beat back dozens of others that Republicans had sought, including revisions focused on environmental and labor protections.
The Department of Homeland Security, responsible for immigration policy, would be financed only through Feb. 27. Republicans want to use the agency's spending bill to block Obama from easing deportation rules for an estimated 4 million illegal aliens.
In addition to the Dodd-Frank measure on swaps trading, the funding measure would allow exceptions to clean-water laws for agricultural refuse, and block the District of Columbia from spending money to legalize marijuana after a voter-approved measure allowing possession of as much as 2 ounces for personal use.
The plan would roll back safety rules on rest for truck drivers, ignoring the pleas of consumer activists and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
The provision would temporarily suspend rules while a study is conducted about the number of trucks driven on congested roads. Under the change, truckers would be able to work as many as 82 hours a week.
The campaign-finance language would let donors give $97,200 a year to each of three party committees for conventions, to pay for building funds and to finance the expenses for recounts and legal challenges to election results, Wertheimer said in a statement.
The plan includes a proposal sought by the National Rifle Association that lets gun manufacturers use lead to produce ammunition, and a labor provision exempting claim adjusters from overtime requirements during major disasters.
The measure would seek to shore up the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. by allowing some underfunded multiemployer pension plans to reduce benefits. The provision reflects an agreement by House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline, a Minnesota Republican, and senior Democrat George Miller of California.
The measure also includes an extension until Oct. 1 of a ban on taxing Internet access. It would provide $5.4 billion in emergency funds to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
The bill would require the Postal Service to continue delivering on Saturdays and to keep all post offices open.
Information for this article was contributed by Heidi Przybyla, Erik Wasson, Kathleen Miller, Derek Wallbank, James Rowley, Kathleen Hunter, Silla Brush, Jeff Plungis, Richard Rubin, Angela Greiling Keane, Clea Benson and Cheyenne Hopkins of Bloomberg News; by David Espo, Andrew Taylor, Stephen Ohlemacher, Erica Werner, Alan Fram and Charles Babington of The Associated Press; and by Lisa Masacaro of Tribune News Service.
A Section on 12/12/2014